“Clark”

It is during times of creative proliferation that one can write about writer’s block and not feel too much shame attached to it. I began writing this story in April of 2023, following a period where I’d endured a particularly nasty wave of songwriter’s block. What I forgot to predict was fact that writing a short story takes months, and thus the creation of this story would surely coexist with other states of creative production. The writing of this story took six months, and came with me as I moved across the country to Los Angeles, where I endured yet more writer’s block. This story came back to New York with me, where I’ve since finished it with a renewed perspective amid a state of creative flourish.

The story follows a young songwriter named Clark who struggles with writer’s block in his encroaching Upper East Side apartment. His search for inspiration takes him across the city. Simultaneously, his boss, a successful freelance composer in his mid-40s named Nils Bjurkman has overcome creative woes, but at the price of a personal life worth writing home about. As Clark struggles to get the ball rolling again, Nils has a problematic night out that may ruin his career. (25 pages, ninety minute read)

You can read Clark on Google Drive for free right here.